Firefighter

In the ring, battling flames or soaring high above the earth, women have redefined "women's work." AFP photographers honored this progress on International Women's Day (March 8) by documenting women working in professional roles more traditionally held by men.

— Jose Jordan / AFP - Getty Images

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Prison guard

Nicol Gomez, 37, stands in front of prisoners practicing yoga in San Salvador, El Salvador, on March 4.

First responder

Butcher

Heather Marold Thomason, founder of Primal Supply Meats, poses in her company's dry-aging room on March 2 in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania.

— Dominick Reuter / AFP - Getty Images

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Auto-rickshaw driver

Tabasumm, 30, poses with her vehicle in Allahabad, India, on Feb. 22.

— Sanjay Kanojia / AFP - Getty Images

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Carpenter

Asmaa Megahed, 31, at her workshop in downtown Cairo on Feb. 26.

— Khaled Desouki / AFP - Getty Images

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Weightlifter

Huda Salem, 20, a member of the Iraqi national weightlifting team, trains at a gym in Baghdad on Feb. 22.

— Ahmad Al-Rubaye / AFP - Getty Images

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Astronaut

Wendy Lawrence, 58, a retired U.S. Navy captain and former NASA astronaut, stands in front of the Space Shuttle trainer that was used for astronaut training at the Museum of Flight in Seattle on Feb. 28.

— Jason Redmond / AFP - Getty Images

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Marabout

Houssa Nientao, 64, in Bamako, Mali, on Feb. 20.

Nientao is one of the few female marabouts, a Muslim teacher or holy person, in Bamako.

— Michele Cattani / AFP - Getty Images

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Soldier

Arazo Qadri, a 27-year-old member of the Peshmerga, stands guard at a camp in Irbil, the capital of the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Iraq, on Feb. 2.

— Safin Hamed / AFP - Getty Images

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Pilot

Ana Sousa, 45, a TAP Air Portugal pilot for 11 years, poses at a TAP hangar in Lisbon on Feb. 28

— Patricia De Melo Moreira / AFP - Getty Images

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Prison guard

Nomatter Mashaire, 32, stands in a corridor at the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services headquarters on Feb. 22 in Harare. Mashaire is the first Albino female prison guard.

— Zinyange Auntony / AFP - Getty Images

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Mule driver

Locomotive operator Glaciela Shreeves, 53, poses in front of a "mule" at the Panama Canal's Pedro Miguel Locks, where she works towing ships through the locks, on Feb. 22.

— Rodrigo Arangua / AFP - Getty Images

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Soccer coach

Marwa Mauled Abdi, 24, poses on a soccer field built exclusively for women in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, northwestern Somalia, on March 1.

— Mustafa Saeed / AFP - Getty Images

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Cattle herder

Mary Amer, 22, poses with her child in a camp in Mingkaman, South Sudan, on March 3.

— Stefanie Glinkski / AFP - Getty Images

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Pilot

Anny Divya, 31, who became the youngest woman in the world to captain the Boeing 777, stands in front of portraits of air marshals at the Indian Air Force Museum in New Delhi on Feb. 24.

— Chandan Khanna / AFP - Getty Images

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Boxer

Sarah Achieng, a 31-year-old professional boxer and sports administrator, after her training session in Nairobi, Kenya, on Feb. 27.

— Patricia Esteve / AFP - Getty Images

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Soccer club president

Amaia Gorostiza, 51, president of the SD Eibar football club, poses in the locker room at the Ipurua stadium in Eibar, Spain, on Feb. 27

— Ander Gillenea / AFP - Getty Images

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Matador

Lea Vincens, 33, at the Aracena bullring, in Huelva, southern Spain, on Feb. 25. Vincens is a rejoneadora, a mounted bullfighter who uses a lance.